For Immediate Release
Press Release
October 13, 2007
First Motion PIcture Tour of Buffalo, New York Big Success!
BUFFALO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES The first ever tour of Buffalo, New York's fabulous motion picture-related history was sponsored by the Buffalo International Film Festival on Saturday, September 29, 2007.
Twenty members of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) from all over the U.S. and the UK were guided to numerous historic sites in the city, such as the site of Edisonia Hall and the Vitascope Theatre (the world's first purpose-built Motion Picture Theater, opened in the Ellicott Square Building in October, 1896, by Mitchell Mark, Buffalo's true movie theater visionary) and the Regent Theater (1914, now Bethesda World Harvest Church) which is the birthplace of TODD-AO.
Martin Wachadlo, author of Oakland Place: Gracious Living in Buffalo, was the entertaining and engaging docent for this unique, long-needed tour. He supplied remarkable building-by-building facts and insight.
Belonging to diverse, illustrious organizations such as the Library of Congress, the National Archives (NARA), the BBC, the Academy Award Archives, and the UCLA Film Archive, these highly skilled and prominent archivists were astonished at the sheer diversity of architecture in the city. Beyond such masterpieces as the Guarantee Building and the Darwin Martin House, the number of early Twentieth Century Movie Theaters that still stand is unique in the world. These include The Michigan (1910), The Savoy (1911), and The Sattler (1914, on the foundation of a 1900 theater). Although in need of restoration, the theaters – once attended by Mary Talbert of NAACP fame – still glow with beautiful terra cotta decorations. One member of the tour remarked that, in Hollywood, no movie houses before 1920 even exist! This makes Buffalo truly unique in having preserved a fabulous "Time Machine" peek into the past.
Mitchell Mark, the genius who foresaw the rise of the movies and constructed the quintessential theaters in which to view them, opened Vitascope Theater as part of his Edisonia Hall barely six months after Thomas Edison premiered the Vitascope Projector in April, 1896, at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in New York City (on the site where Macy's now stands). Mark was responsible for bringing Marcus Loew (of Loew's Theaters), Adolph Zukor (co-founder of Paramount Pictures), and Roxy (the flamboyant movie theater showman of Broadway) into the motion picture business. Mark was also, apparently, the first individual to distribute Lumiere / Pathe films in the United States circa 1895. This may mean that the first film show at the Vitascope Hall was one of the premieres of the Lumiere Brothers' films in America.
A highlight of the tour was a visit to The Regent Theater (1914) at Main and Utica. Now Bethesda World Harvest International Church, this beautifully remodeled building still preserves many of the architectural features of the original movie house, used by Buffalo's American Optical Company to test the revolutionary 30 frame per second 70mm TODD-AO camera/projection system commissioned by mogul Mike Todd for his movie Around the World in 80 Days, starring David Niven and Frank Sinatra. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were flown to Buffalo in 1953 to see a demonstration, which influenced them to give their permission to make Oklahoma into a film using TODD-AO.
Buffalo was also an important Motion Picture Exchange from the turn of the Twentieth Century through the 1960s. Film Exchanges handled and shipped the 35mm prints of all the newest motion pictures and made sure that theaters from Syracuse to Cleveland, and from Erie to Toronto, had them on time and in perfect condition for each evening's programming. Pathe, Vitascope, Warner Brothers, MGM, Paramount and Universal all had offices in Buffalo along Franklin and Pearl Streets starting as early as 1906. Mr. Wachadlo pointed out nearly a dozen of them still standing, although now used for other purposes. The Warner Brothers' building on Franklin is now a restaurant.
The positive response to this unique tour will be an inspiration for future tours that will expand and enrich the international appreciation of Buffalo as a unique site of Motion Picture history.
Richard Baer of Baer & Associates funded the tour, with the help of Nancy Eckerson, a writer from Akron, NY. Other organizers were Marti Gorman of Buffalo Heritage Press and Chuck LaChiusa of the Buffalo Architecture & History website (ah.bfn.org). Transportation was provided by Gray Line of Niagara Falls.
Buffalo International Film Festival, Inc. is a 501c3 not-for-profit charity incorporated in Buffalo to celebrate the artistic, cultural and scientific contributions of the Western New York region to the world's motion picture heritage.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
BuffaloFilmFestival@gmail.com
www.BuffaloFilmFestival.com (a prototype, information-only website)
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BIRTHPLACE OF MORE THAN THE CHICKEN WING
First Motion Picture History Tour is Big Success!
Buffalo, N.Y. - September, 29 2007 - For the first time in history, the Queen City hosted a tour of its fabulous motion picture history, sponsored by the Buffalo International Film Festival.
Twenty members of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) from across the United States toured the city's repository of unique and priceless World Cinema History, showcasing its importance as birthplace of one of the world's first movie theaters. Attendees witnessed an exhibition of unique motion picture evolution, transcending international, cultural and ethnic boundaries. This included the notable sites of Edisonia Hall and the Vitascope Theater in the Ellicott Square building, home of the world's first purpose-built Motion Picture Theater in 1896.
Belonging to high profile organizations including the Library of Congress, the BBC and the Academy Award Archives, these prominent historians and archivists were astonished by the sheer diversity of existing motion picture and standard architecture in the city. One tour member remarked that in Hollywood, "No movie houses before 1920 even exist anymore!"
The tour drew attention to the Buffalo Film Exchange District, which was particularly significant for film exchange from the turn of the Twentieth Century through the 1960s. It hosted major motion picture companies throughout the years, such as Vitascope, Pathe, Warner Brothers, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal and others.
Tour stops highlighted important city landmarks such as Buffalo City Hall, Anchor Bar (birthplace of the chicken wing), the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Millionaires Row along Delaware Avenue. Additionally, many Buffalo landmarks requiring preservation efforts were visited, including the Sattler and Savoy Theaters, (both attended by activist Mary Talbert), the 1909 Movie Theater and the Michigan Baptist Church.
The extremely positive response to this event underlines the pressing need to preserve, restore and reconstruct the buildings and locations crucial to the origins of the world's Motion Picture Theaters. Currently, the Sattler Theater, built in1914 and one of the architectural gems of the motion picture evolution, is threatened by demolition.
The tour was made possible by Richard Baer of Baer and Associates, Marti Gorman of Buffalo Heritage Unlimited Publishers, journalist and writer Nancy Eckerson, Gray Line of Niagara Falls, Chuck LaChiusa and Buffalo International Film Festival, Inc.
The not-for-profit Buffalo International Film Festival was founded in 2005, showcasing the past and present work of individuals from Western New York, who have contributed to motion picture history. For more information visit www.buffalofilmfestival.org.
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